Naisha's Speech at the 2021 Blue Marble Bash
On April 24, FIUTS celebrated our fifth annual Blue Marble Bash! Even though we still couldn’t gather in person, we had an incredible virtual event to raise support for FIUTS programs.
Over the past weeks, we have been posting student speeches from the Blue Marble Bash celebration. Last but certainly not least, we are happy to present Naisha’s inspiring FIUTS story that she shared at the event. We hope you enjoy her of tale of perseverance, joy, and making connections despite challenging times.
Studying in the US was a dream ever since I was 6. I came to America to visit my aunt and once I saw the schools here, I knew that this is where I wanted to be. Getting into UW, I felt like my American dream was finally becoming a reality. Little did we know, a pandemic was coming, that would change our lives forever.
In the beginning of summer 2020, I thought the pandemic would be over before I began college. Summer turned into Fall, Fall turned to Winter, all the freshmen experiences that I was looking forward to, be it the New Student Convocation or the Dawg Daze events, everything became virtual. I felt like my American dream was going farther and farther away.
This also meant that I had to take classes remotely from India. Yes, all the way across the globe. Studying remotely with a 13hr time difference is definitely a challenge. I had to attend classes at weird hours and even take exams after staying up three nights straight. My vision would get blurred looking at a screen for hours together. I would get frustrated and tired. So much so, that sometimes, I would sleep through my lectures.
I eventually began living a nocturnal life. I could not spend time with my friends or family because of my crazy schedule. My friends in India would talk about their college experiences and I would look at them clueless. I would attend virtual student events at UW and see other students talk about things I had no idea about. The only family interaction I had was my mom checking up on me at 4 am to see if I was awake. It was like being stuck in this ‘in between world’ and nobody truly understood what I was going through. Whenever I met anyone, they would ask me,” So, when are you going to Seattle?” I would shrug and say,” I don’t know.” The uncertainty of it all was the worst part.
As time passed, I realized that the only way to overcome isolation was to find a way to connect with other huskies. After snooping around the FIUTS event page, I showed up to a Game night. Next thing I know, I’m calling Azka ‘sus’ in a game of ‘Among us’ and I’m applauding Michelle for her art in Skribbl.io. I had such a great time at the event that I started attending more FIUTS events. I realized that be it Alex talking about his travel experiences over a cup of tea or Tiffany taking us through a Taiwanese food tour, at FIUTS, there’s something for everyone.
I then joined the FIUTS Discord server which is like a world in itself with everybody posting beautiful shots of the campus and having intense debates on whether a hotdog was a sandwich or not. It was all of this that helped me forget how far away I really was.
One day, I was casually texting, a friend of mine, Nghi who suggested I apply for a facilitator or a committee member position. So, I decided to go to an information session to see what different committees had to offer. I remember Kana welcoming me into the session and Kedi encouraging me to join as many committees as I possibly could.
As it would turn out, being a committee member for the CultureFest Expo would become one of the highlights of my journey. With the coolest co-chairs, Emerson and Luke and a very helpful staff member, Vy; the committee was always open to new ideas and even agreed to meet at times which would usually be considered “unconventional”, just so I could attend the meetings. The whole process of creating web pages, the will they/won’t they of the clubs and our little victories after someone submitted content was very exciting. The most rewarding part of the whole process was to see the completed webpages, especially the India page, a page I submitted a lot of content for.
The past year has been one crazy ride and I don’t think it would be half as entertaining if it wasn’t for FIUTS. FIUTS has given me so many new memories and friendships, that I know, would last a lifetime. I’m grateful to be a part of a community that welcomes everyone with open arms. What I have now is even greater than my American dream. FIUTS family, Thank you for making me a True Husky!
The FIUTS Discord is a social media platform open to everyone in the global FIUTS community. For more information and to join, see here!